A/N : Hey y'all. I'm back to writing again. I apologize for the long wait since I've been busy for the last two months. Unfortunately I won't be able to update the fic as frequently as I could back then because I have to go to school now. Hopefully y'all don't mind waiting like a month for a single update. That's all I gotta say. Enjoy the chapter!
P.S : I apologize in advance for any wrong translations. I got most of them from Google Translate so feel free to correct me in the reviews
Fires in the East
July 23, 2033
2:23 AM
Sherman and the two Saunders pilots had been walking for what seemed like ages across the frozen steppeland of the USSRS Kiev, yet they had not come in contact with anyone or anything at all.
"Are you sure we're not walking in circles?" asked one of the pilots to the other as she struggled to walk. "...'Cuz I'm pretty sure we've walked past that dead bush five times now."
"I… I don't know anymore," the other replied, panting profusely. There were no landmarks in sight. Just endless white on either side of them. It was so cold that it almost hurt to breathe. The wind kept blowing in their faces and made their eyes sting with freezing tears.
The two pilots were tired and anxious but there wasn't much else they could do. They couldn't stay out here for long and if they stopped to rest they would surely freeze to death. So they continued trudging forward for a few minutes longer, only to stop when Sherman stepped on something metallic on the ground.
The two pilots bumped into her. "Hey, what's the big idea?"
Instead of answering them, the girl crouched down and began sweeping the ground. The two looked over her shoulders.
"What the heck are you doing, dude? We need to keep moving!"
She ignored them, continuing to sweep the ground until she uncovered train tracks. "I knew it!" she exclaimed.
The pilots, upon seeing them, audibly gasped before falling to their knees and crying out in joy.
"Thank the stars, we're saved!" they both crawled up to the tracks and started kissing them.
"Buncha weirdos…" Sherman remarked before she looked around her surroundings, eventually spotting an orb of light in the distance."A train! Hey both of you, get up, I need your help!"
The pilots quickly rose to their feet. "What is it?"
"There's a train coming, we need to get their attention. You, gaijin!"
"Me?" the taller of the pair pointed at herself.
"Yeah, carry me on your shoulders! I need to get that train's attention!"
"Uhh… o-okay!" and she did as told.
They stood beside the railroad tracks, staring down the approaching locomotive.
"How do you plan on stopping this train exactly?!"
"Easy!" Sherman pulled something out from her greatcoat. "We just have to make some noise."
The pilot heard the cocking of a hammer and yelled, "Woah woah woah! Is that a friggin' gun?!"
"Smith & Wesson No. 2! I spent a fortune on this thing and I'm glad I get to use it after all this time! Now stand still!"
"You're fucking crazy, man!"
As soon as the train passed them by, Sherman unloaded her revolver onto the locomotive. That was when she noticed it was no ordinary train.
"It's armored?!" she exclaimed as she watched it speed off into the distance, only to screech to a halt seconds later.
"Makes sense, they're riding around in the middle of a war after all," remarked the pilot that Sherman was on.
"Why would they protect themselves if they don't expect to be shot at?"
"Beats me," she shrugged.
"Regardless, we managed to get their attention. Good job, stowaway," said the other pilot.
"I have a name you know?" irked, she replied, "It's Kimura!"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Nice to meet you and all that. Now come on! Let's get over there!" the pilot grabbed her partner by the hand and they rushed over to the train. Sherman fell off the girl's shoulders but she quickly got back up and caught up to them.
The train engineer was outside, inspecting the small dents on his train and wondering where they came from. Suddenly, the old man heard the crunching of footsteps in the snow. He flashed his light in the direction where the noise was coming from and was shocked when three girls, one armed with a revolver, emerged from the darkness. Thinking they were ghosts, he dropped his light and threw his hands up.
"W-Wait!"
"Calm down, old man, this isn't a robbery. We just wanna hitch a ride," Kimura explained calmly, "We'll get off at the nearest stop. Promise."
"How did you girls even end up out here?" the engineer asked, his voice quivering slightly.
"Strayed off a path, got lost thanks to a blizzard… anyways, we were hoping you could let us on that train, mister."
"Uhh… I-I'm not sure we have any room-"
Then Kimura cocked her gun, which quickly made him change his mind. "I m- I mean, sure! Go right ahead! Just… please don't bother the passengers… They've already been through a lot."
"You don't gotta worry about anything, old man," said one of the pilots as she and the others climbed aboard one of the passenger cars.
Afterwards, the engineer wiped the sweat off his brow and made his way back to the locomotive, muttering, "Kids these days…"
Kimura and her pilot buddies burst into the passenger car and announced themselves.
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen!" she exclaimed before realizing the car was filled entirely with women. "Or… just ladies, I guess. There's no need to fear. We're just hitching a ride. We'll get out of your way so hopefully you get out of ours. Have a great night."
Seeing as the passenger car was full, they walked further to the back of the train and entered another. It was not as packed as the previous one so they were able to sit down.
The girls sank into the warm embrace of their seats, letting out moans in pleasure loud enough to get the attention of one particular girl. One who had a long, black ponytail and red glasses.
"Are… you guys okay?"
The three jolted in shock. Kimura was the first to notice one the passenger standing next to them.
"C-Can I help you?"
"What were you moaning for?"
The pilot answered, "Oh, sorry about that. We've been walking in the snow all night and we're pretty tired, is all."
"Why would you-"
"It's a long story. Just, please let us get some rest."
"You know, if you wanna lay down, there's a wagon-lit in the back of the train. It's certainly much better than sleeping here."
"Say less," the pilots immediately stood up and went to the back, Kimura chuckling at them as they did.
"How about you, miss? Aren't you tired at all?" the girl sat beside her.
"No, I am too. Just don't feel like sleeping yet," she replied whilst staring out the window. "Hey, can I ask you something?"
"Sure, what is it?" she tilted her head.
"What's up with the armored train? You don't normally see that on the Kiev, do you?"
"It's for safety purposes. We ride through five battlefields a day, of course we're bound to be caught in the crossfire."
"You're not fighting in this war?"
"Of course not. We're from Gregor after all. For the past two weeks we've been trying to leave this ship and get away from all the crazy Russians."
"Gregor? I don't think I've heard of you before…" Kimura said, inspecting her outfit.
"That's understandable…" she replied with a hint of disappointment in her voice.
"Well, how'd you get here in the first place then?"
"Kuromorimine invited us for a sparring match here…"
"Kuromorimine?" Kimura cut her off. "You guys are pretty lucky!"
"I know," she chuckled, "But I think they just asked us to spar because they ran out of dummy tanks for target practice…" before letting out a sigh, "Anyways, after our match ended, we found ourselves somewhere different than before. It was a warzone! Pravda just started shooting at each other! Kuromorimine got out of here quick thanks to their giant airship, those lucky bastards… Ahem, excuse my language. Meanwhile, we had to travel across the entire ship on a hundred-year-old steam train."
"Huh… do yoy have any idea why Pravda's suddenly fighting each other?"
"I don't know," she shrugged, "Do I look like the type of person who pays attention to Pravda politics?"
"Yeah, you've got a point there," Kimura replied before letting out a yawn. Her eyelids were getting heavy and she could feel her body begging her to just sleep already. "Hey, could you like leave me alone for a few minutes? I have to rest my eyes."
"Of course, of course! I don't wanna bother you after everything you've been through today," she replied before she stood up. "Dobrou noc, miss."
As soon as she got up from the seat, Kimura immediately started snoring. In awe, she remarked, That was fast! before leaving.
She later returned to cover Kimura with a warm blanket.
Kimura awoke the next morning, barely remembering what her conversation the night prior was about.
She made her way to the train's dining car where she found the pilots as well as the girl she talked to last night.
"Dobré ráno. Would you care to have some coffee with me?" she asked with a cup in hand.
"Of course!" Kimura said willingly, sitting down on the table.
"Did you sleep well?" she handed her a warm cup of coffee.
Kimura took a sip before replying, "Mostly. My back hurts though…"
"That's unfortunate. You should've joined your friends in the wagon-lit after all, eh?"
"I guess. Hey, I never caught your name by the way."
"My name's Valeska. My friends call me Val. Rád tě poznávám," the two shook hands.
"Kimura. It's great to meet you."
"So Kimura, where are you headed exactly?"
"To the warfront. I want to get there as fast as possible!"
"Oh…" Valeska took a sip of coffee. "You're gonna have a problem with that, kamarád. You see, we're actually heading away from the warfront. We want to leave the ship, remember?"
Kimura's eyes widened before she sighed and covered her face. "Oh goddammit…"
Valeska leaned over and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure you can hop aboard another train at our next station."
A few hours later, Gregor's train was ordered to stop by the Reds at a town named Chelyaba.
"I've dealt with this problem millions of times now that it has gotten really annoying," said Valeska as she walked to the train's exit, Kimura following closely behind. "The Reds don't trust us and we don't trust them. That's why I have to convince them I'm not a White spy. Sigh," she put a hand over her face. "The longer I stay in this frozen wasteland, the faster I'll be driven insane."
After they stepped onto the terminal, Valeska said her goodbyes. "I wish you luck on your journeys, Kimura. Hopefully you won't deal with the same pains in the ass as I do. Čau."
"Bye Val. It was nice meeting you."
Kimura looked around the station. She saw there was another train that had just arrived and it was headed west. Just like the train she got off of, it was also filled with students of a foreign school. No doubt they were trying to escape the shitshow that was this 'civil war'.
Before she could get over there, however, the pilots appeared behind Kimura, catching her by surprise.
"Hey dude, wanna come eat out with us?"
"No thanks. I don't wanna miss my train. And besides, didn't you have breakfast already?"
"Uh, we didn't? The cooks said there was no food. Pretty bullshit if you ask me."
"That train's not leaving anytime soon. There's no need to worry!"
Kimura considered coming along with them as she too was feeling awfully famished. With a sigh escaping her mouth, she replied, "Sure, I guess I'll come with."
So they looked around Chelyaba for a place to eat. Most of the restaurants and fast food chains were out of business for some reason and the only food joint in town that was open was an old, shabby diner. Unfortunately, they were out of food as well.
"What do you mean you're out of food? This is a goddamn restaurant, how can this even happen?!" exclaimed the outraged pilot as she argued with the cook at the counter.
"Blame the kids shooting each other, not me man. I don't have anything to do with it," he said in a slurred manner, acting unusually casual. By the looks of it, he was stoned.
"Why is this place open in the first place if you've got no food to sell?"
"We have coffee though."
"We have cafés for that!" she banged on the counter.
"Hey, can we just leave this place already? We're wasting our time," Kimura said.
"Yeah dude. Let's just look someplace else."
The pilot reluctantly obliged. "We've looked everywhere now. There's just no food in this town. Let's just go back to the station."
As they walked out, they heard a commotion outside as if a brawl was happening.
Curious, Kimura peeked outside a window and saw a full on riot transpiring between students of Gregor and the other school from earlier.
"What in the world is happening out there?" she muttered to herself before stepping outside. Before she could though, one of the pilots stopped her.
"Hey, don't go out there! It's dangerous!"
"Dangerous? Heh," she smirked before taking out her revolver, "I have just the remedy for that."
Once she got outside, Kimura fired a shot in the air, causing the fight to abruptly stop and everybody to run away.
"Why the hell did you do that, man?" asked one of the pilots.
"I-I thought I'd get them to stop!"
"You got that from a movie, didn't you?"
Immediately afterwards, the blare of a police siren suddenly filled the air. "Oh shit, it's the 12!" exclaimed the pilot. "Let's get outta here man!" before grabbing Kimura by the collar and high-tailing it out of there just before a patrol car pulled up.
"Police! Drop your weapon!" the cop yelled as the girls hopped over a chain link fence and ran into a back alley.
"Goddamn kids…" he cursed, sliding his pistol back in his holster before getting back inside his car.
"Wait, why aren't you chasing after them?" his partner asked.
"This is no time for jokes, Shinya!" he exclaimed before grabbing the scanner. "Attention all units, we have a 417, requesting backup!"
"This… This is just like that tank meet we had last month…" one of the pilots remarked, panting profusely.
"Yeah… but at least this time the cops didn't shoot at us."
"We have to get back to that train," said Kimura.
"It's too dangerous! We should wait here until the heat dies down-"
"For God's sake, grow some balls, will you? I'm going back to the station. You guys can stay here if you want."
"Alright, fine! We'll come with you. Just don't do anything crazy, okay?!"
"I can't promise that, but okay."
Kimura and the pilots left the safety of the back alleys, dodging the law left and right like thieves in the night. Little by little, the number of cop cars that patrolled the streets kept increasing to the point where it was getting uncomfortable.
Kimura stopped for a moment. She told her accomplices, "There's too many of them. We can't cross the street without being made at this point. We need a distraction."
"Uhh, like what? Do we toss coins or something?"
"Don't worry, I have a plan," with a devious grin, Kimura pulled out a candle lighter from her coat. "You guys go ahead. Don't worry about me. If I don't get there in thirty minutes, leave me behind. I can find my way around. And If I get caught, don't worry! I'll escape five minutes later anyways."
"You sure about that?" the pilot doubted her.
"This isn't my first rodeo, buddy. Now go!"
The two nodded and said, "Godspeed" before scurrying away. Afterwards, Kimura sought out the nearest building to break into and after finding her way in, she got to work.
Minutes later, the pilots were fortunate enough to not get caught and they made it back to the station where the Gregor students were just about to leave. They met Valeska there and she was quite puzzled to find Kimura nowhere to be seen. Even more so when she saw thick black smoke billowing in the distance. A fire must've broken out.
"Wh-Where's Kimura?" she asked, her curious eyes locked on the large pillar of smoke.
"She was distracting the cops for us. We wouldn't have made it here if it weren't for her."
"The cops?!"
"Look, it's a long story okay? Some crazy stuff went down. There was a street fight, a gun was involved, and the cops pulled up. That's all I'm gonna say."
"A street fight? Sigh, it was those Hungarians, wasn't it?"
"Hungarians? What do they have to do with all of this?"
"They're the girls you saw earlier. We have a bit of a history of facing each other in Senshadō. Their commander holds a grudge on me..." Valeska said in a guilty tone. She seemed uncomfortable talking about the subject. "We beat them last year in the World Tournament and now they think we cheated. We uhh... kinda did... I don't wanna talk about it."
"It's alright, we don't have to," the pilots assured. "But why're they here of all places?"
"Well, who wouldn't want to see their worst enemies get their asses beat?"
"They're really praying for your downfall, huh? That's tough dude."
Valeska sighed, "Vím..." before she realized her train was leaving soon. Without Kimura in sight, she began to get nervous. "H-Hey, Kimura's not far from here, is she?"
One of the pilots glanced at her watch. Kimura was too late. Regretfully, she said, "Kimura's not coming, Valeska. We have to leave."
"What?!" suddenly, a loud explosion erupted out of nowhere. They didn't know where it came from, but they did know what it did. The fire from earlier had grown, swallowing dozens of houses and establishments that lay in its wake.
"Yep, we definitely gotta leave!" the pilots shoved the Czech girl onto the train right before it got to moving again.
And so Gregor High continued their exodus to the east. Valeska would never know of Kimura's fate and she spent the rest of the trip at the caboose of the train leaning on the railing as she attempted to clear her mind of anxiety.
Meanwhile, back in Chelyaba, the once quiet and peaceful small town had devolved into chaos. Dozens of civilians fled the area to escape from the ever growing fire while the local fire department did the best they could to put it out, with a little help from a few brave volunteers.
Kimura's plan worked. With the cops distracted, she was free to mosy over to the train station unopposed. However, when she made it there, she found it was completely empty. Neither Gregor nor the other school's trains were there.
Ah crap... I took too long, didn't I? disappointed by her blunder, Kimura sat on a nearby crate and contemplated on what to do next. With my train gone, I'm going to have to find an alternative way of transportation. I would hijack a motorcycle if there were any in this town... or if I knew how to drive one in the first place. I doubt there are any taxis or buses around in a backwater town such as this. Hmm... maybe I should just walk?
Kimura spent a couple of minutes waiting there while the town behind her was being consumed by the fire. She was interrupted in the middle of her thoughts when the ground beneath her started to tremble. The loud roar of an engine pierced through the cries of the civilians in the distance right before a Panzer 38(t) appeared before Kimura's eyes.
"Holy crap..." she stood up in awe. "It's like a gift sent straight from heaven!"
Afterwards, a girl dressed in Gregor uniform emerged from out the cupola. She was clearly confused about the missing train. "Ah sakra, meskáme!" she slammed her fist on the roof of the turret. Then she noticed Kimura standing beside her tank.
"Where'd our train go?!"
Kimura shrugged, "Beats me."
"Godammit! Now we won't escape this hellhole!"
"I can help you off this carrier, you know? That is, if you do me a favor first."
The girl raised an eyebrow. "I'm... interested."
"Good," she smirked, "Now here's the deal: I'm gonna be your tank's commander for the time being. And we're going back west to fight. You got that?"
"What-"
"Hmm?" Kimura pulled out her revolver and cocked it.
The girl's eyes widened in fear. "What... are we waiting for? Hehe..." she chuckled nervously, "L-Let's not waste time and get going, shall we?"
"Good girl!" satisfied with the answer, she holstered the gun and climbed up the tank. The former commander moved further inside to the loader's position. Once Kimura had gotten inside the cupola, she ordered, "To the West! We're gonna make Pravda howl!"
To which the driver simply replied, "Áno velitel,"
10:49 P.M
Kimura and her newly formed crew spent the entire afternoon travelling across the frozen lands of the Kiev, occasionally stopping to rest, and by sundown, they had reached a suburb.
After trying to parallel park their 38(t) - and failing miserably, resulting in two flattened cars - Kimura left her tank to find fuel and ordered her crew to stay behind.
"Keep your eyes open. We're in an urban environment which means our enemies can appear from anywhere!" she told them while retrieving two jerrycans from the tank.
"The front lines are hundreds of kilometers away from here but sure."
"And don't even think of escaping, got it? I'll be back in a few minutes."
After Kimura was gone, the driver said, "Let's escape while she's gone! This is the perfect opportunity!"'
"There's no point in doing that. We need the tank if we want to catch up with our train so we're gonna have to do the commander's bidding until she gives it back."
"When do you think that'll be?"
"Umm... I don't really know."
"Exactly! That's why we need to get away from her now! She could be planning to take us all the way to the stern of this damn ship for all we know!"
"B-But the tank-"
"Screw the tank! Our freedom's much more important than this expendable piece of junk! We can walk, we can hitch a ride, hell, we'll jack a car if it comes down to it. Anything to get away from that sociopath!"
"Hey!"
The two were distracted when they heard an unfamiliar voice. Under a street light stood a young girl clad in thick winter clothing. The glare of her light brown eyes made them uneasy.
"Can we... help you?" the loader asked.
"I know what you did Chelyaba," the girl spoke, her voice filled with hatred. "My family's dying in the cold because of you."
"W-Wait, this is a misunderstanding! We didn't start the fire!"
The driver emerged from the tank and added, "It was always burning since the world's been turning!"
"Shut up and get back in the tank!"
"Are you fucking with me right now? You think this is funny? I'm gonna make you pay for burning my town down, you bastards!"
"Calm down! Calm down! We told you we had nothing to do with it!" the loader desperately tried to diffuse the situation, but it was too late.
The young woman suddenly yelled, "Ogon na porajeniye!" before running away. There was a split second of confusion between the two tankers until a loud bang rang out, followed by a shot from out of nowhere that landed right next to their 38(t).
"You missed?!" was heard in the distance as the crew jumped into action.
"Alright, let's get the hell outta here!"
"We have no fuel, you idiot!"
Faced with only one solution, the loader swiveled the turret towards its adversary, which was concealed by the darkness of the night. Another shot flew towards them as they were adjusting their aim and it bounced off their hull. The enemy tank was getting more and more accurate with each shot.
"Find where it's coming from, dammit! We're sitting ducks here!" yelled the loader as she punched a shell into the breech before squeezing over to the commander's position to fire. It was a painfully excruciating process.
The driver, with nothing else to do, got out of the tank via the radio operator's hatch and looked around to find where the shots were coming from. Once her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she caught sight of a large silhouette peeking out from an alleyway.
"T-34!" she exclaimed, "There's a T-34 over there!" and the turret immediately turned to face it. The 38(t) fired as soon as possible, however it was all for naught as their shot merely bounced off the enemy.
"Th-Those fuckers are sidescraping! What do we do now?!"
"I can't load the tank fast enough! Brace for impact!"
As they braced for their demise, the T-34 suddenly ignited into flames. The 38(t) crew peeked outside out of curiosity and saw someone lobbing molotov cocktails at it. The burning gas must've seeped inside the tank through the air outlets or the engine grill as the crew shortly got out from whatever hatch they could squeeze out of to avoid getting barbecued.
"This isn't over, you hear me?!" yelled one of them before running off into the night.
Afterwards, the crew watched as the individual who threw the molotovs ran over to them, the street lights eventually revealing her as Kimura. "What was that about?" she asked, carrying the two jerrycans in her hands.
"Those bastards are blaming us for burning their town down. Pssh, if that isn't utter bullshit, I don't know what is!"
"Haha... yeah..." she chuckled awkwardly as she climbed up her tank.
"It's a miracle that gas station's security was so ass, eh?" the loader picked up the jerrycans and proceeded to refuel their vehicle. "How'd you manage to sneak past, commander?"
"Oh, you know, I made a little distraction, nothing fancy," Kimura replied as a firetruck zoomed past them with its blaring sirens.
"Jeez, are all the houses in this carrier made of matches or what?" remarked the driver.
"I-It's probably just a coincidence... Come on, everyone in the tank. Our target's that city in the distance."
"Ah, Sverdlovsk! I've been there a couple of times," after emptying the jerrycans, the loader tossed them aside and crawled inside the 38(t), Kimura following soon after. "I even met one of Pravda's former commanders there. She's supposedly pretty famous."
"If she lives in the city, then our enemies' morale would surely plummet if we capture it!"
"Who the hell are we even fighting against?"
"Umm... Whoever the bad guys are in this conflict I guess," she shrugged
"So both the Reds and Whites then."
"Alright look, we'll just side against whoever shoots at us first alright? Let's get going."
A few minutes earlier...
A woman awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of a distant battle.
At first she thought it was her mind playing tricks on her, but when she opened the curtains and poked her head outside, she saw something burning in the distance, the smoke blotting out the pale moon in the heavens. Near it, two bright lights constantly flashed, accompanied by gunfire.
"What the hell's going on over there?" the woman muttered to herself, rubbing her eyes.
Just then, her nephew burst into the room. "Katyusha-sama! We need to get to the basement!"
"A-Ann! What's wrong?" she went over to her and immediately, their height difference became obvious. Ann stood at 5'2" tall and her aunt was five inches shorter. Due to this, many people mistake her for being a high schooler, but at least it's better than being 4'2" tall.
"The Whites are here, Katyusha-sama! There's no doubt we'll be caught in the crossfire of the battle soon enough. We need to get to safety!" she exclaimed, grabbing her aunt by the hand.
"Alright, alright, there's no need to rush!"
The two rushed to their basement, stopping halfway when they heard the gunfire abruptly stop. Ann remarked, "They're on their way!" before double-timing it. Once they got down there, Katyusha was met with three uninvited guests, four girls dressed in Pravda uniforms.
"Hey, what the-"
"They're my friends, Katyusha-sama! It's too dangerous out there so they're staying for the night."
"Oh," she calmed down, "Well I guess that's fine then."
Afterwards, Katyusha took a seat on the only chair in the room which was situated in the very middle. She took the opportunity to catch up on some Z's but suddenly, one of her niece's friends tied her up to the chair.
"What? What?! Ann, get me out of here!" she yelled, struggling to get free.
Her niece did not do anything however, and instead put on her coat. "I'm sorry, auntie. But this was the only way I could get you to let me leave so I can help out my Club."
"Listen Ann, you're not thinking straight! It's too dangerous out there! And besides, this isn't your war to fight!"
"It is! I'm the Student Council president! It's my responsibility to take care of the school. I'm the only one who can put an end to this worthless conflict, Katyusha-sama... I hope you can forgive me," and so, with her crew in tow, Ann left the basement, leaving her aunt behind.
She left her house and hopped aboard the T-34/85 that once belonged to Katyusha which was parked on the side of the street.
"So where to, Kaichou?"
"We're going to Moskov. I need to talk to Yuuri about my plan for a counteroffensive."
"B-But that's gonna take days!" the driver replied.
"The fate of the carrier lies in our hands! If we don't stop this madness before it's too late… God knows what will happen next. Let's go, driver!"
And so, Ann escaped Sverdlovsk, followed by the rest of the Reds who were in the city. When Kimura and her crew arrived twenty minutes later, they found it empty, and thus, Sverdlovsk fell into their control.
"That's it? That's all it took?" she asked in disappointment. "We couldn't even have a little bit of street fighting or something?"
"Aren't you happy we took the second largest city on the ship without resistance? That's a large feat, you know?"
"Doesn't seem like it. I feel like we didn't earn this…"
The Gregor students shared looks before they told their commander, "Well… how about we just capture another city or town then?"
"Preferably one that's Red-occupied," the other added.
Kimura rubbed her chin and pondered for a moment. "I… guess that could work. Let's go then!"
"Wait!" the two stopped her. "Why don't we stay here for a bit? We haven't had food in two days! Let's grab a bite first before leaving, shall we?"
"Sure. I'm pretty hungry too anyway."
Afterwards, they ate out at a restaurant and fortunately, this time they had actual food. It seemed like the war hadn't affected Sverdlovsk. Not yet at least.
Once they finished dinner, Kimura's left and continued their journey west, closer towards the capital.
July 26, 2033
4:37 A.M
It had been two days since Kimura and her crew left Sverdlovsk and they still had caught no sight of the capital, Moskov. Instead, they had been moving from town-to-town, stealing from restaurants to feed themselves and from gas stations to fuel their tank. Today was no different.
"...We'll all go down to Dixie! Away! Away! Each Dixie boy must understand that he must mind his Uncle Sam. Away, away, we'll all go down to Dixie-"
"Commander! For fuck's sake answer me!"
"Gasp, What?! What is it?! Do you guys see any Reds?!" she exclaimed, darting around.
"No man, we're coming up on a town," the driver replied, "We've been trying to tell you for five minutes…"
Kimura looked ahead and saw buildings slowly peeking out of the horizon. "Holy crap, we are! Jeez, I thought we were gonna be wandering in the snow all day. There's no time to lose then! Let's get there as fast as possible!"
"V poriadku,"
When they got into town, the first thing they did was find something to eat. They stopped at a small pirozhki stand that was situated next to a train depot. Plenty of people stopped to gawk at their tank. They didn't mind.
"You know…" Kimura took a large bite of her meal. "I never thought the Kiev would be this large. I thought we were gonna get to Moskov in like, a day!"
"The Kiev's one of the largest school carriers out there, commander. It's why they have railways in the first place," her loader replied as she was stuffing her face.
"Getting to the capital's going to take forever, isn't it?" she asked, quite bummed out.
"Unless we take a train, then yeah."
Kimura sighed in regret, bowing her head.
The loader wrapped her arm around her shoulder to comfort her. "We'll get there eventually. Don't worry commander…"
"Hey, you're from the Gregor Legion, aren't you?" all of a sudden, a girl appeared on the seat next to Kimura.
"Gregor… Legion?"
"Yeah. Everybody knows who you folks are! You're the ones who razed Chelyaba to the ground!"
"Uh y-yeah, we don't know what you're talking about…" Kimura replied, slightly nervous.
"There's no need to be shy about it! I'm actually looking to join you guys."
"Join us? Why so?"
"I hate the Reds as much as you guys! I wanna join the fight against them but I'm too far away from any White commanders to do anything. That's why I wanna come with you!" she was clearly younger than them - definitely a freshman. The girl had short brown hair, dark brown eyes, and she carried an awfully heavy backpack. They knew just by looking at it.
"You're heading west, right? Word on the street is Yukimura-sama's sided with the Whites and she's gathering people from the Senshadō Club to start an eastern front. I wanna go to Omsk before she leaves!"
"Yukimura… who?" Kimura tilted her head.
"She's the ship captain's daughter. Also the most popular girl in school. Right now, she's staying in Omsk. It's not that far from here! I'm sure you can fit one more person in that tank of yours. So pretty please let me hitch a ride with you guys!"
"Really?" Kimura turned to her crew for their opinions. "What do you guys think?"
"She seems valid enough," the driver replied, "We should still keep an eye on her though. In case she does anything funny."
"That settles it then. You're part of the crew now. Welcome," she shook the girl's hand.
"It's an honor! My name's Fujiwara Atsuko by the way. You can call me Akko."
"Fujiwara? Heh, what a coincidence. I know someone with the same name." Kimura remarked.
A few moments later, once they were finished with their food, they immediately set off for Omsk.
The ride was long and excruciatingly jading. The only entertainment they got was from the Gregor students who occasionally sang Vzhůru hlavy to pass the time. Meanwhile, Kimura and Akko went about getting to know each other better.
"...So where did your burning hatred for the Reds come from anyway? You seem hellbent on taking them down," Kimura asked as she stood outside the cupola, surveying the surroundings.
Akko, who sat next to the driver, replied through the comms, "We'll, they've been giving me a hard time for the three years of my life. I've gone to seventeen different labor camps during my entire life on the Kiev, you know?"
"Shouldn't you be working on bettering yourself instead of blaming the school for your problems?"
"I'd rather be labeled a menace to society than constantly worship the Student Council and the Senshadō Club Prez twenty-four seven, thank you very much!"
Jeez, and I thought Kawashima's authoritarian regime was bad…
Four hours later, Kimura and her crew found themselves in the suburbs of Omsk. Knowing what had happened in Chelyaba a few days prior, the locals were not fond of their presence, but they were unbothered by the people's cold glares.
"It's a pretty quiet town," the commander remarked, "Looks like the war hasn't got to it yet. Where can we find this Yukimura gal, Akko?"
"I heard she stays at the mayor's house."
"Let's go pay her a visit then. Double time, driver!"
"How am I supposed to know where that is?"
"I know where it is," Akko replied, "I'll lead the way!"
"Well then, let's switch seats. I'm tired of driving all day."
They later arrived at the place which had been modified into a safehouse. All the windows were boarded, there was a huge hole on the roof in which an anti-tank cannon poked out, and a T-34 guarded the residence. It mistook Kimura's tank as hostile and shot at it and missed. In turn, the 38(t) fired back and took it out.
"What the hell man?!" the loader exclaimed in utter shock.
"Hey, they shot at us! What were we supposed to do? Just stand there?" Kimura yelled back.
"That was a misunderstanding! Now they think we're-"
"Reds!" Hearing the commotion, the Whites inside the safehouse rushed outside to see what was happening. One of them carried an RPG-7, supported by another.
"You shouldn't have come here you filthy Red! We got you now!"
"Wait! Wait! This is all a big misunderstanding!" Kimura emerged from the cupola with her hands raised. "We're from the Gregor Legion! We're really sorry about your tank. We didn't mean to shoot it!"
"Gregor Legion?" The Whites put down the rocket launcher but they were still pretty rattled. "A-Alright then. What did you come here for? Your train passed this town a couple of days ago so why are you here?"
"We heard Yukimura-sama's looking for volunteers. We'd be glad to help in any way we can!"
"Volunteers? From Gregor? Are you delusional or something, girl? This isn't your war, you know?"
"Well, we didn't want to go home yet so we figured we could have some fun on the Kiev while we were here."
"What? Who the fuck is 'we'?!" her Slovak crewmates exclaimed, their voices being heard from outside the tank.
"...Interesting... Very interesting. Just- could you give us a moment?" the Whites huddled together.
"I mean, the more tanks we have, the higher the chance that we win this campaign right?"
"They literally destroyed one of our T-34s! You're telling me we should trust them after what just did?!"
"They said it was an accident, didn't they?"
"How do we know they're not lying?"
"Settle down, you two! We should let Yukimura-sama decide!"
"What?"
They then turned back towards Kimura who was in the middle of an argument with her crew. One of the Whites nudged another on the shoulder and she stepped forwards rather timidly with her hands clasped together. Kimura took notice of her and their argument abruptly stopped.
"U-Umm…" she stuttered before staring at the 38(t) commander for ten seconds without a word. The commander tilted her head in confusion which made her flinch. Realizing she had not yet made a decision, she cleared her throat and said, "Y-Yeah you're hired- I mean, in! You're in. Welcome to the Armed Forces of Eastern Pravda."
A smile crossed Kimura's face. "Great! I can't wait to get started, commander. If you need anything from us, just ask! Now if you excuse us, we'll have to get going. We haven't eaten in ages," she said before crawling back inside and resuming their argument in their tank as it left.
Some of Yukimura's followers were outraged by her decision, some defended it. And soon enough, an argument of their own erupted.
It was quickly defused however when she flared up. "Hey! All of you shut your fucking mouths! My decision is final! My word is law! If any one of you are dissatisfied with how I do things then get the hell out of my sight!" she calmed down as fast as she erupted. "I'm… I'm sorry… for raising my voice like that."
Another moment of silence followed. The Whites just stood there looking at each other without a word.
"Umm... We should probably get going. The more we bide our time, the stronger the Reds become. Gather everyone at the outskirts! We'll start our march west."
Later that afternoon, Yukimura's forces gathered on the outskirts of Omsk, awaiting her order to advance. They numbered up to twenty tanks, six of which were British Matildas and were in extremely poor condition. The rest were T-34-76s and 85s and, of course, the Panzer 38(t)mwas present as well.
"Hey, Pravda doesn't usually use those tanks… right?" Kimura asked, staring at the Matildas in puzzlement.
She received no answer, however. "Yukimura?" so she turned to the tank next to her. "Yukimura, I'm talking to you."
The commander, who silently observed her troops, was startled upon hearing Kimura's voice. "D-Did you say something?"
"Sigh, nevermind…"
"Look, I'm sorry for being so jumpy. I-I feel really uncomfortable when I talk to people, is all."
"It's okay. I know how it feels. Kinda. Anyways, what are we waiting for? Shouldn't we be marching west by now?"
"Yeah but the marching band still hasn't arrived."
"A marching band? Why in the world would we need a marching band of all things?"
"For morale purposes. We're starving and extremely homesick… We need music to ease our minds and to strengthen our fighting spirit!"
Just then, a pickup truck pulled up, weaving past the parked tanks until it stopped right in front of Yukimura's.
Five boys sat on the bed, each one with an instrument. "We came just like you asked, Yukimura-sama."
"Um, yeah thanks," she replied before an awkward pause. She and the boys had a staring contest for a moment before one broke the silence.
"So um… should we… start playing now?"
"H-Hold on, just a moment," she pressed her throat mic and ordered one of her crewmates to, "Tell the others it's time to move."
Kimura and her crew heard a voice on the radio moments later. "Let's bring the fight to the Reds, girls! All tanks, marsh vpered!"
The tankers cheered and the boys began to play Farewell of Slavianka. The T-34s and Matildas moved out. They were followed by the marching band on their truck.
"For a military commander, Yukimura sure doesn't like talking to her troops," Akko remarked.
"I have a feeling that's gonna give us problems in the future," the driver added.
"Don't jinx it," Sherman replied, "Let's get moving. I don't wanna be left behind."
"Áno, veliteľ. To Moskov we go."